God gives grace, because his primary characteristic is love.
God is holy. He cannot live in the presence of sin. He will punish sin, and rebellion.
But God did not create mankind to have law-abiding citizens, faithful followers, or obedient servants. God created mankind to have a family.
There is eternal love, giving, and honor, between Father, Son, and Spirit. Such love, that it could not remain within that circle. So, God expanded the circle.
God created people, so he could include them in the circle of love. And when the first people sinned, rejecting God’s love, his invitation to eternal relationship, to the eternal family, he punished their sin with curses that broke the God-man fellowship, broke man-man fellowship, and allowed evil to be birthed in the world.
But he also began the process of restoration. He offered grace, so mankind could choose to reunite with God’s family, and God’s circle of love.
So, those who accept God’s invitation of restoration, give him allegiance, now stand as his family in the world. We are not just kingdom citizens, followers, soldiers, and servants. We are family. Part of God’s circle of love. And part of that God-impulse to share, and spread, his love over the world.
One writer says that God’s intention for his family is to: live like Jesus, love like Jesus, and leave what Jesus left behind.
What did Jesus leave behind? People who became part of his family, living as he did, loving as he did, and bringing more people into the family. This live-love-leave is part of the new spiritual DNA, the Holy Spirit injects into our being.
We will probably have different places, and different roles, in the family. But we all have responsibility in the live-love-leave continuum to maintain, and increase, God’s family. We all have responsibility in God’s restoration process.
